Phantom Pregnancy
by allninelives
Summary: When Danny's parents begin to question where and how he spends his time, his life of ghost fighting becomes a lot more difficult, and in addition to growing feelings for his best friend, Danny isn't sure he can handle the stress. The sudden appearance of a new prophecy spewing ghost doesn't help matters, either.
1. Chapter 1

The sky breathed a husky blue that contrasted the fluffy muted signatures of the clouds; the more majestic of the crop of buildings the town offered boasted against the powerful skyline. The unfamiliar terms of normalcy had settled like a dusk on inhabitants, who had, after a good deal of experience, come to terms with what such a sense of peace brought- something bigger to shatter it. Normal was thrown around loosely, long uprooted from the origins of its meaning in a town where a daily occurrence or an uneventful evening consisted of avoiding your dead mother-in-law or accidentally hooking up with a Plague victim. 'Normal", it seemed, actually contested its definition with its opposite; normal meant an uncomfortable ease where the games of tag played between the wind and tree branches at night brought about a sense of routine and reassurance that the world, or any scheming alternate universes, were about to play upon the silence to make a bomb sound louder. And indeed, this irregular treat tasted like poison.

"Aren't you bored?"

I flicked my eyes from his paddle-ball to Sam, who let her eyebrow cock as an indication of her utter lack of amusement.

'Nope." Tucker answered for me as his face fixed intensely on a new PDA application. He was working on for 'the betterment of all mankind'….which usually entailed a mechanism that scoped through the door of the girls locker room since I couldn't be persuaded into doing it for him.

Sam rolled her eyes and snatched the game from my hands, which methodically repeated the motions it had been forced to perform for the last hour. I noticed, boredly, the absence of my amusement, I shifted my head lazily to look at her, before letting an unintelligible slur mumble out.

Tucker sat up, his set mouth betraying his failure. "That's not even a real game, dude."

I ignored him and dropped my eyes, relaxation allowing the arm I propped my head on to become intangible and resulted in a round of making out with the floor.

"We haven't seen a ghost in two days!" I said as I clumsily dusted off my pants before falling back on the bed. "I'm not one to complain about an easier workload but.."

"It's weird." Sam finished plainly, moulding a strand of hair aimlessly in her fingers.

"Yea. This is never a good sign." I watched Sam and then Tucker, and continued as I wasn't granted with any kind of response.

"I wouldn't mind it if we had something else to do."

"What about that book report due Monday?"

I rolled his eyes. "I mean something i_mportant."_

Sam snorted. "You fight ghosts without breaking a sweat, your entire family consists totally of geniuses, even you, and yet you don't have the dicsapline to put any effort into school."

I smirked, focusing on Sam folding her arms in frustration. "In my defense, ghosts don't sweat."

"Speak for yourself. Have you smelled that suit?" Tucker, who had turned his full attention back to his PDA, didn't even take his eyes off his task to insult me.

"Danny? Are you up there?"

"Yeah, mom! What's up?"

There was a pause before she spoke again. "Can you come down here for a minute?"

Sam and I turned to look at each other.

My parents, much as they cared, weren't the sit down and talk type, Jazz had taken up that position. The only time I was ever called into conversation was to either have mom show me a new ghost weapon (which she always figured was defective after it reacted to me), or another Talk, capitalized but not capitalized on.

"What about Sam and Tucker?"

Another pause. "I think they should go home sweetie."

Now I was breaking into a cold sweat, and I heard my heart threaten to speed up. Sam and Tucker practically lived here, and they had never been sent home by my parents, not even when we were kids hellbent on destroying equipment. This was not gonna be fun, and definitely not something I was going to want to face alone.

I looked up when I felt a clasp on my shoulder to see Sam. She smiled wordlessly with concern and dragged Tucker out of the room, face still glued to his perverted endeavors. I waited on my bed, listening to their footsteps retreat down the stairs and the almost inaudible click of the door. Homework seemed like a good idea now, or at least a better alternative than facing my mom.

"Danny?" Concern laced with impatience; my favourite tone of voice.

I sighed. "Coming."

…

I crept down the stairs, silencing each step by absorbing it in the carpet.

"Jack, do we really need to do this? There's no way Danny wouldn't tell us about something like this…"

I froze in midstep. Did they know? A gulped surpressed itself in my throat.

"Maddy, its not like we're talking about him-"

_Creak_

My parents looked up, and I silently cursed the age of the house, or at least my inability to keep quiet. Mom smiled warmly and gestured me to come down, dad shifted nervously and scratched his neck, a trait I found id picked up but rarely seen him use. Great. If the king of humiliation was nervous, I was going to pee myself. I sat down on the chair adjascent to my mom.

"You guys wanted to talk to me?"

Mom exchanged a glance with dad, who cupped her hand.

"Danny, honey, you know we'd love you no matter what, right?"

I gulped. "Y-yeah. "

Mom continued. "And you know we love you even if you did something horrible?"

Oh God, they did know. There was no backing out of this now, not this time. No gauntlet to alter reality, no lies or distractions. It was now or never.

"Mom, I was going to tell you before, but it jus-"

"Shh, we know. The absences, the serecy, we figured it out." Mom said.

Dad held up his hand. "That's need to explain, Danny. We just want you to know we will support you being a father."

"It's just I thought it would be harder, me being a gh- wait, WHAT?"

Giving away the biggest secret id ever had I was prepared for, but this, this was pulling the rug out from under my feet.

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?"

Mom cleared her throat. "It's okay honey, we know. We know Sam is pregnant."

My face flushed a deep red, and I burired it in the safety of my hands. Wanting to turn invisible was one thing, having the ability to actually to it and refrain was even worse.

"Mom, Dad, Sam is not- we never- were not even-"

I took deep breaths, the blush still apparent, I tried to speak evenly.

"Sam is not having a baby. Especially not mine."

My mom furrowed her brow in confusion. "So Sam ISNT preganant?"

"NO!"

My dad rubbed his chin in his hand thoughtfully. "What were you saying about a ghost?"

"I- uh.."

"OPEN UP THIS DOOR! IT'S THE FEDS!"

Great, another awesome day with the guys in white.


	2. Chapter 2

Needless to say, I didn't feel like sleeping. That's a lie; I _want_ to sleep, but I cant, not even if my afterlife depended on it. I roll on my stomach and whip off the covers, hoping like the tired kid I was that it was a miracle cure for insomnia. Nope. At least the Guys In White hadn't been an issue. Not that they ever posed a major threat, but they hadn't even merited the title pain in the ass. It was a routine check or something, another futile search for the ghost boy they were convinced my parents kept in the attic. Well, they were half right. School hadn't even been that bad today, with Dash and the rest of the football team off on some tournament, and Lancer going as 'moral support', which was an easy excuse to slack off work and dealing with kids who fell asleep in your class. So what was it? I'd like to blame it on the lack of ghosts that'd shown up, but I had been willing enough to sleep earlier when the topic came up. So I was left with the only possibility I didn't want to face, the one thing that plagued me, awake or asleep; Sam.

I dropped my face into the pillow. Disappointed it had warmed with the time I had been laying on it, I turned it over and inspected a thread that had unwound from its binding of seams. What my parents said bugged me, and not just because it involved sex with my best friend. There was relief in the fact my parents were on the totally wrong track, not so good that they had noticed in the first place. Jazz probably brought it up, or at least I hoped so. My parents were never the most observative people in the world, if they were beginning to notice my absences; everyone else was already four steps ahead and putting pieces together. For now, I could pass that off as paranoia and ignore it. What really bugged me was the whole idea of… I felt a blush taint my face. I mean, Sam was my friend…. officially. We had been since second grade. I admit that I probably want to be more than bffs, I also know I hate hormones. Just because Sam was a girl didn't mean I had to think of her any differently than Tucker; I'd known them both since second grade, they were equally good friends, and they'd both proven their loyalty as people more then enough times. So why….

I rotated the pillow again. If there was anything I hated as much as people asking me questions I didn't know, it was when I asked me questions I didn't know. What I hated more was asking questions I already knew the answer to and when I didn't feel like answering. . Hormones had a role, but they also made me like Paulina, and if id learned anything in high school, it's that Sam wasn't Paulina. Sam was an ultra-recyclo-vegetarian goth who would stage a protest against insect sprays to protect cockroaches. Sam was a girl would give up everything her money could buy her for her own identity. Sam was a friend who risked her life to help her half ghost best friend from getting in trouble. Sam was…Sam. And I liked it that way. Heck, even if Tucker had been a chick, which is a seriously disturbing thought, he'd be another platonic friend. another sister, he wouldn't be Sam. No one would ever be Sam.

I was way too tired, and a glance at the clock told me I should be; a vivid neon warning of the approaching day to come. Before I'd completely lost all dignity to my fatigue and the sickening cheesiness it caused, I fell asleep. Or tried to.

_The world was dark and quiet, a breeze that carried no sound and captured the last leaf of a dead maple._

"_Hello?"_

_No answer. _

_I pushed on, trying to figure out where I was. It wasn't the ghost zone, but it had the same eerie feel, and a sense of lost familiarity. My feet made no noise on the pavement, no wind, no anything. The sudden intrusion of a lonely squeak made me stop dead, and I traced its origin to a rusted chain attached to an almost illegible parchment, worn with age and lack of maintenance. __AMITY PARK__AMITY PARK_

_My blood turned to ice. Amity Park? This was my home? I forced myself to take in details; deserted barren, shambled houses, scattered remains of glass… it was ground zero. Now panic had seized my, forcing the air trapped within my throat to come out rushed and strangled. What happened? Out of the corner of my vision, I spotted a lone scrap of paper stationary among the ruble. A newspaper, how cliché. I strained my eyes, but they couldn't make much out except for scribbles that once indicated letters and outling important events. The only evidence I had that I wasn't lost in illusion, the physical manifestation that proved any truth to the destruction of my town, was useless. I growled and thre it down. _

"_Stupid paper.."_

_The wind picked up again, and shifted it towards a heap of debris._

_Now I was faced with nothing, I had no idea what happened or what to do about it. _

"Dude, you look terrible!" Tucker looked at me, immediately choking on his juice when I had trudged into the cafeteria that afternoon.

"Gee, Thanks Tuck. I needed the ego boost." I slumped down on a chair that's legs buckled from one too many fat kids, the back of it burnt clean through from a lighter. Yay to education budgets.

"No sleep, huh?"

Too preoccupied with my head buried between my arms and the table that smelled supisiously like yesterday's 'meatloaf' I gave him a thumbs up.

"Whats with him?"

No need to look up to know Sam was there, and too lazy to make anther gesture, I let Tucker answer for me.

"He was up all night…thinking of you."

Bad plan. My head shot up. Tucker somehow found pleasure in my confusion, and lately, he had been bathing himself in it. At least, he had in the last week.

"No I wasn't! It was-" The cafeteria had trained is eyes on me, forks poised halfway between mouths and lunch. I realized too late I had been yelling, and standing up. I sat back down sheepishly, my hands covering my face having nothing to do with tiredness. Sam nodded it understanding of my lost words, concern gracing her features.

"Danny, are you okay?"

No darkness to hide my red face now.

"Yeah, just fine." I grumbled.

Sam cleared her throat. "I've got a new lead."

A ghost? I wasn't sure whether wheather I was relieved or concerned. It meant the awkward conversation had turned, and it meant the fighting dry spell tension had broken, but I was reluctant on how to take it.

"Oh yeah?"

Sam nodded. "Yup. Some guys were talking about staking out the power plant tonight. Something about a really pretty ghost haunting there."

I racked my brain. "Ember?"

She shook her head and lowered her voice. "I doubt it, she only shows up when she has a plan, and she would've shown up by now. She likes the attention."

I snorted. "That's true, but we haven't seen her since she was backing up Youngblood. The brat."

Tucker chimed in."Brat or not, she's totally hot, dude."

I rolled my eyes "I was talking about Youngblood."

"So are we gonna check it out?"

"Of course we are!"

Tucker piped up. "What about those kids that want to stake out the place? We need them out of there before we can do anything."

I smiled. "Leave that to me."

The power plant had been abandoned for over 20 years because of a nuclear meltdown that totaled half of the building. No one was hurt, but some of the kids buzzed about a troubled haunting there. It never made sense why we even had ghost stories, since attacks were pretty much a daily thing, so I didn't read into any accounts. None of the ghosts id fought even mentioned their life I forgot they had even lived. When we reached the wasteland of what Sam called 'the industrial smog resulting from urbanizatio', a creepy déjà-vu nagged at the back of my mind.

"There they are." Sam pointed to a couple of lumps huddled around a crude fire based at the foot of the plant. Why anybody wanted to spend a night in a crappy old building waiting for sometjong that would freak them out for the rest of their lives was beyond me. Why anyone _normal_ would anyway.

Sam and Tucker nodded at me and I became intangable.

"J-josh, this is worth it, right? " A tremble shook one of the boys, the scrawnier of the two, who looked like he would pass out if it weren't for his inflated ego.

"Don't be a baby. She's totally hot!" This time, the dumber of the two spoke up. An idiot and a pansy, what an interesting ghost hunting team.

"She's not gonna kill us is she?"

"Pft, don't be stupid, ghosts cant kill you."

"That's what you think." I smiled,, reappearing in front of them. The first one paused, dropped his flahlight and ran out screaming. Josh, however, stayed.

"Inviso-bill right?"

I glared. "No Danny Phantom. How do you even get that mixed up?"

Josh shrugged, shifting his hands through his pockets aimlessly.

An ugly smirk formed on his mouth. "You're here for the ghost, right?"

How stupid was this guy? "Duh, I kinda protect the town from them."

His face fell . "Are you kidding me?"

"Can we speed this up? I'm busy"

I watched as an expression of confusion slowly dawned. "You mean-?"

He chocked.

"What are you gawking at?"

Josh looked at me with a look of pure horror. "G-ghosts don't get laid?"

I blinked., completely dumbfounded. "What?"

Josh collected himself. "I thought you were coming down here to get some booty, you being a ghost and all. I heard she was really hot and…"

The shock was replaced by quick annoyance. "Get out."

Josh turned and bolted without so much as a nod.

Footsteps closed in behind me.

"Danny what took so long?" Sam raised an eyebrow, hand resting on her hip.

"Don't even ask." I groaned.

"Awe come on, it cant be that bad."

"Just some guy asking if ghosts could get laid."

Tucker and Sam were quiet, before Tucker had the guts to speak up.

"Can they?"

I coughed on air. "T-t I don't know Tuck! Its not like I ask!"

"Well, do you think-"

"Can we just drop it? This is stupid."

I led the way, sheiding my face from my friends.

"So where do we start?" Sam ventured, glancing around.

An orb of light enveloped a silouette that materialized out of nowhere. Nothing I hadn't seen before.

"We start here!" I lunged at the figure, a blast of energy forming in my hand.

"Mr. Phantom, don't be so rude." A chiiling tone sliced the air, and my body became suspended.

"H-Hey! Let me go!"

The face became clear, dispersing light revealing bright blue eyes and the kind of smile that belonged on a mother.

"Mr. Phantom, I apologize but youre trying to afflict me with injurty."

"Affl-..? Whatever, and don't call that! That's my dad's name! ..If my dad were a ghost."

She smiled. "Danny then."

The hold on my body was released, and I had to catch myself from falling.

"So, what do you want?"


	3. Chapter 3

She looked at me, then Tucker, and then Sam in a stately fashion, letting her eyes quickly appraise each of us in turn. Satisfied, she relaxed into an easy smile, and became comfortable enough to stand rather than float- a comfort for us all, actually.

The power plant whirred with silent energy. Forgotten machines randomly discharging sparks and the creatures that had made homes within them scratching and rustling amongst wires and metal. But it was a cold silence, and it was less appreciated by me than it was this stranger. Sam shifted her weight to her left boot, skepticism written all over her face and crossed arms. Tucker looked mildly unsettled, and I caught him trying to catch my eye for further instruction. For my part I was impatient, and the sounds and hums of this destitute building were amplifying my annoyance.

It bothered me that I didn't know anything about her. The Ghost Zone was infinite; there had to be billions of ghosts I didn't know. But only a handful ever featured recurring appearances in Amity Park, and they all had a beef with me. If there was a ghost I hadn't met it usually ended up in a fight. And then more once the relationship had been established. But the regulars had been quiet; Vlad had been even more so. If there was a new ghost, one of the others might have shown her the ropes to get their own edge. My reputation was enough that most of my usual opponents knew what they dealt with, and they weren't above partnering up if it put them ahead of the game, especially if that 'partner' was naive enough to work as a pawn. The only time I saw a ghost without attachments was if they had their own agenda, and that made them unknown, and dangerous.

I cleared my throat. "Are we gonna do this the easy way or do I have to bring out the big guns?"

She looked mildly offended as she broke out of her reverie. She tightened her lips as she regained her easy composure.

"My apologies, Mr. Pha- Danny." She smiled again as she corrected herself.

"Can we speed this up? I have a curfew to maintain if I want my allowance." Tucker tapped the screen of his PDA.

Sam looked at him strangely. "Your allowance?"

Tucker shrugged. "A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do if he wants to keep Nasty Burger privileges."

Sam rolled her eyes.

"What's your name?" I tried again. Tucker was right, it was getting late, and my parents already had their suspicions about my 'extracurricular' activities.

She looked at us all again before answering.

"I have been called many things: Augury, Cataclysm... But I prefer Calamity."

"Calamity? That's a little… catastrophic, don't you think?" Tucker looked concerned.

Sam just looked put off. "Really? You have all eternity to pick a name and you choose _Calamity_? What is it with ghosts and names?"

I ignored them. "Fine. Calamity. What are you doing here?"

Now it was Calamity's turn to look irritated. "Danny, I've come with a warning."

She didn't bother with formalities this time. Her face crossed with complete sternness and severity. All traces of her former etiquette and royal demeanor had disappeared.

Tucker threw his hands up. "A warning? Now? Where have YOU been?"

Calamity didn't acknowledge him. "Heed my words and heed them well, Phantom.

"_Two paths lie ahead in wake_

_One exists with your mistake_

_Make careful what your choices bring_

_Or fear the wrath of tyrant king_."

We watched her fade away, quickly enveloped by spectral light and leaving nothing behind her.

There was silence for a moment.

"You know, I bet she'd get along with Mr. Lancer." Tucker supplied, squinting at the spot Calamity had taken moments before.

Sam moved to stand beside me. "Looks like the dry spell's over."

"Yeah. But now comes the storm."


	4. Chapter 4

"Two paths lie ahead in wake…" I muttered to myself, my head face down on the desk.

Our philosophy teacher sauntered into the room and took note of the dismal attendance, and I doubted he needed his doctorate to figure it out.

Friday wasn't busy at school- it never was. A lot of kids skipped out in favor of sleep in preparation for the weekend. But this Saturday had upped the ante for the usual campfire cabaret; Dash was hosting a party at his parent's cabin by the lake while they attended some college football game out of town. A Dash party wasn't a party- it was anarchy. Benches got torched, forest fires got started, and valuables got just a bit less smashed than everyone else. Of course, I hadn't been invited, and it really suited me just fine; I had a lot of other things to deal with.

Mr. Samberg was probably the most average looking guy you could get. A lofty top of blond hair, brown eyes and an expressive face that was beginning to line with wrinkles. He wasn't particularly intimidating, being only about 5"8, but was toned with enough muscle that he obviously cared about his health. Jazz said once that if you were to clump every man in the world and take a combination expressing every average human quality, you'd get Mr. Samberg. His personality, thankfully, was equally complacent. He wasn't subject to the eccentric tendencies that would grip Mr. Lancer, and he was about as interesting as a wet rag. He was passionate about his subject, though, and anything controversial swept him up in such an enthusiasm he never noticed when we fell asleep.

I only took philosophy for three reasons: One, my parents thought it would be 'good for me to get some culture.' Second, because Jazz told them to suggest it so I would be exposed to something other than ghosts, and third, because it was possibly the slackest class the school offered, and the only way I could sneak in some crash time between ghost hunting.

Needless to say, I wasn't all that interested in the topic, so as Mr. Samberg lit up in a heated debate about the origin of existence with a guest speaker, the only thing I learned was that the guy who didn't believe we evolved from monkeys was the spitting image of king kong. There were a couple moments I think he actually had to restrain from beating his chest, settling instead for narrowing his eyes under an extremely protruding brow bone and curling his lip back over his jutted out jaw. So I was left with an entire hour to do as I pleased, and my current lack of sleep called for a nap. But I couldn't. Try as I might, and trying harder to drown out the teachers, sleep wouldn't come. The only thing that did was the warning from Calamity- over and over and over again.

"Danny?"

My head jumped and I let out a yelp as I fell backward in my chair.

"Tucker! You scared me half to death!" I rubbed my head, irritated.

"Which half?" Tucker smirked.

Sam came up from behind him. "It's lunch hour. We couldn't find you so we figured-"

"-That Mr. Fenton has the audacity to sleep in my classroom." Mr. Samberg said flatly. I looked over my shoulder where he was sitting at his desk consulting a large book. He snapped it shut and leveled his gaze with me before sighing. "I had hoped that you would enjoy this lesson, I thought that it might at least peak your interest."

"Why would you think I'd be interested in _that_?" I said incredulously.

He looked a little put-out by that, and more than a bit curious. "Because your parents are ghost hunters, of course!"

"So?"

"So I thought _maybe _you might be able to put _some_ form of input into the conversation." He said dryly.

"Mr. Samberg, my parents are ghost hunters- not me. Isn't there some kind of philosophy that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover?"

He folded his arms with a raised eyebrow. "Yes. There's _also _a saying that 'the apple doesn't fall far from the tree', and the philosophies surrounding that are far more amusing."

"Y'know," Tucker interrupted jutting out his wrist watch, "There's also a saying that lunch is over in fifteen minutes. And healthy brains need healthy meals!"

Sam scoffed. "Then you're in the wrong place, genius."

Mr. Samberg paused, looked at the three of us, and waved his hand in dismissal. "Until next block, Mr. Fenton." And with that he shut the door behind us.

"What was that about?" Sam asked, re-adjusting her backpack on her shoulders.

"No idea. Guy makes about as much sense as a fruit-loop."

"You could just pay attention in his class." Sam smiled at me.

I stopped walking. I stopped talking. I just stared. I'd seen it so many times before, but today, Sam was smiling, and something inside me melted. Or- wait. Was that on the inside?

Tucker looked floored, and Sam's expression turned to frantic.

"Danny! What are you _doing_?" She whispered, rapidly surveying the halls.

"I- what do you mean what am I-?" I blinked. "When did you get so tall?"

Sam and Tucker simultaneously dropped their eyes to the floor, that I had just discovered I was sinking into.

I floated back up and turned my legs tangible again. What just happened?

Tucker stared at me. "Dude- did you just lose control of your powers?"

"I-I don't know." I looked down at myself. I felt in control of my powers, I felt as I always do. I wasn't sick or anything, was I? My powers were as familiar and as much a part of me as my own hand or leg- and I controlled them the same way. They didn't just 'malfunction.'

"Danny… that hasn't happened since you got your powers." Sam looked concerned, and I felt worse.

Tucker drew his hand up in a suggestion. "Danny, you feel fine right?"

"Completely normal."

"Maybe it's an automatic response? Like when you sneeze or twitch or something."

"But it's never happened before." Sam countered slowly. She turned back to me. "I think you should get checked out."

Tucker flailed his hands in the air. "By WHO? Vlad Plasmius? Who do you think is gonna give a ghost a physical?"

"There's got to be someone in the ghost zone who can help." Sam paced. "Someone we know-"

"-Aaand doesn't hate our guts. Don't forget not hating our guts." Tucker supplied.

We paused for a moment, silent as we thought. And then I had an idea.

"Guys? I know just the ghost."

The castle was dark, and the halls resonated with a hollow and endless moniker.

_Tic _

_Toc_

_Tic _

_Toc_

Except for us, everything was empty, desolate. The sound of the great clock was isolated from any disturbance, every rotation dominating the lonely expanse. The tower was a confinement all its own, and every transfixed artifact stood impenitent against the constant gavel of the clock. None of us said anything; the mansion had a persuasion of solemness, and the echoes of footsteps on the tiles were dismally drummed throughout the corridor. Our own silence was a nervous respect.

"Does this place ever get _any_ less creepy?"

Or not.

"Tucker. We have a job to do. Remember… Danny, sick?" Sam gestured at me.

Tucker snorted a laugh. "What, afraid we'll run out of _time_?" He pointed to one of the wall clocks adorning the corridor. "You know whos house, we're in, right? And I don't think-"

"That the proprietor doesn't care for advanced notice?"

"Come on, Sam. We aren't trespassing! Besides, this is an emergency!" Tucker stated.

"Advanced notice really isn't necessary." Clockwork faded into appearance above the rafters before floating down. He was smiling amiably, currently wrinkled and white with age. "When you control time, you know when guests are going to come." He paused, deadpanning. "Of course, you also know why everyone's late for dinner parties…"

"Clockwork, Danny's been losing control of his ghost powers. We have no idea what's causing it." Sam implored.

Tucker shrugged, smirking. "And you're kinda the closest thing to a doctor we know around here."

Clockwork morphed, adopting a juvenile appearance, while he stared at us. His eyes caught on Sam, and he hesitated for a moment with indecision, before addressing me.

"Your powers are fine, and you aren't sick, Danny."

"How can you be so- Oh. Right, sorry." I smirked sheepishly.

Tucker budged in. "So what is the problem?"

"It really isn't of that great a concern." Clockwork replied calmly.

"Not a concern? Clockwork, I can't go around phasing through things when I don't notice! As far as everybody knows, Fenton has nothing to do with Phantom, and I want to keep it that way."

I'd had my ghost powers for so long now, I forgot what it was like to not be able to control them, and I didn't like the feeling.

Clockwork gave me a look.

I sighed, throwing my arms up. "Fine. Nobody knows about Fenton and Phantom in _this_ timeline."

Another look.

"Alright! _Most_ people don't know. What does this have to do with my powers?"

"Nothing."

His eyes wandered to Sam again, staring hard at her. He sighed.

"Danny."

I looked at him, and he stared at me. Very, very intensely.

"There is no set course for your future. You can change your destiny- you know this. However." Another forboding look. " Some things… will happen because you will be compelled to do something regardless. Not because of fate, but because of your personality. You are who you are, Danny, and you will act as you see fit. Soon, you will make a choice. Do not come to me to change your fate… I will not assist you this time."

We all stood silent, Sam and Tucker exchanging looks. Even I didn't feel like there was any permission to push it further.

"Clockwork…" I said, "My, uh, powers? Am I okay?"

"Come with me."

He floated out of the main room, going through a wall its far left side.

I started to move forward, before turning back over my shoulder. "You guys wait here. I'll be back."

And with that I ran to the door leading to the room he disappeared to, not wanting to risk going ghost.

The main foray was even more despondent with the departure of the only two conversationalists. The main clock, being situated dead center of the room, intensified the resilient sounds.

"Was it just me, or was Clockwork looking at you?" Tucker asked, looking utterly confused.

Sam shrugged nervously. "I dunno- I'm never really sure how to take him."

Tucker nodded. "He's a mysterious guy." Tucker suddenly looked concerned. "Do ya think Danny's okay? With his powers, I mean."

"As far as I can tell, whatever it is Danny has, isn't going to be near as bad as what he's gonna get."

Tucker smirked. "For Danny? It never is."

I walked in after him, the room just as empty and eternal as the rest of the castle. He stopped, and I did too, a good ten feet behind him. He didn't turn to face me, didn't say anything, and didn't acknowledge me at all for a long time. I watched as his form changed from childlike to ancient, then finally to adulthood, and back again. Why had he led me out of the room? There wasn't, from what I could tell, anything special about this place. It was dark and empty, with a scarce garnish of furniture, accented by the dim cast of the torches of ghostly fire adorning the walls. Clockwork always had his motives, but I never could figure out what they were until the problem was already resolved. His back was still the only thing I saw when his voice broke into the soundless space, hollow and profound.

"If there's anything I should be made aware of, now's the time."

I started. What? Did he think I was hiding something? What could I possibly hide from the Master of Time?

"I can't read your thoughts, Danny." He turned to face me, still ten feet away. "Time unfolds only the notions conceived by the mind. I watch the results- can alter them to my will- but as for what drives them I have no control."

"Clockwork… I'm not hiding anything from you, I swear!" I was exasperated and nervous, my voice rising in pitch. "Ask me anything- I'll tell you whatever you want to know."

"Sam."

"What?"

"Sam. Tell me about Sam." He focused on me full on now, completely invested in whatever I was going to say.

"Sa-? Clockwork, what's going on? What's going to happen to her!" I growled it out, my fists clenching by my sides.

Clockwork observed me for another moment before answering. "Nothing that you can't control Danny."

I was about to retort when he held up his hand. "But that's not what I meant. What do you _think_ of Sam?"

I stalled, I was still bitter. What wasn't he telling me?

"Danny, there are rules. I can't impart the details of the future."

I sighed. "I know…"

"Now. About Sam."

I had to think about it for a moment. "Sam's one of my best friends, I've known her forever." I shrugged. "She's an ultra-recyclo-vegetarian goth who hangs out with a techno geek and a half ghost kid. She goes to Casper High and her family is super rich from inventing some kind of food product."

Clockwork raised an eyebrow. "Ultra-recyclo-vegetarian?"

"She won't eat anything with a face on it."

"Everyone knows those things, Danny."

"Not that she's rich! Only Tucker and I know!"

"And why would she tell you that?"

"Because she trusts me!" I threw up my hands. "I told you; we're close."

"How close?"

I felt a blush run across my face. "T-that's kind of personal, don't you think?" I was more than suspicious. Since when did the Ghost of Time care about my relationships? And now that he did, why? I couldn't help but feel that his interest, however much of a friend and an ally he was, was not about giving advice on my personal welfare.

Clockwork's face turned stoic briefly, before contorting into an expression that was a mild hybrid between alarm, curiosity, and concern.

"You care for her then."

"For the third time! Yes! We're best friends! Of course I care about her!"

Clockwork looked slightly annoyed.

It sunk in. "O-oh. You mean-?"

He nodded.

"Look, Clockwork, " I said hastily. "I appreciate the whole mentor-bonding thing but what does this have to do with my powers?"

He smirked and shifted his head pointedly towards the ground, which was farther way then it should have been. I was hovering, full on ghost and my gloved hands cupped two forming green ghost balls.

I was utterly confused at this point, whipping my gaze from my hands to my feet and back to Clockwork. Going ghost was a habit and a part of me- but I'd always controlled it. How could I not notice?

Clockwork smiled before turning back and exiting the room. His fading voice echoed in the cavernous space. "I told you, Danny. Nothing to worry about."


End file.
